Recruited in the harbor

Pardoned ex-soldier murders again in Russia

Andrei Bykov

(Bild: НЕ ЖДИ меня из Украины )

In Russia, a former soldier who was recruited in prison and pardoned for his "services" at the front has once again committed murder after returning to his home country.

On Tuesday, in the Kemerovo oblast, a twelve-year-old girl left the house in the morning and never returned, according to the investigating authorities. The next day came the terrifying discovery: her body was found in a well near an abandoned building with clear signs of violence. A short time later, a 49-year-old man was arrested.

He was Andrei Bykov, who had previously committed at least six crimes, including serious ones, reports the local media outlet Sibirski Express. In 2019, he was sentenced to 13.5 years in prison for the murder of an elderly woman during an argument. The woman had reportedly insulted him and hit him with a plastic bucket. Bykov then allegedly strangled her with a piece of cloth and buried her body.

The authorities during the investigation:

Behind bars, he had been recruited for deployment at the front and had ended up in the "Storm Z" unit, which was made up mainly of prisoners.

Prisoner of war in Ukraine
Bykov was taken prisoner of war in Ukraine at the end of 2023. In December, a video featuring Bykov was published on the YouTube channel Ne schdi menja s Ukrainy ("Don't wait for my return from Ukraine"), in which he explained that he had left the penal colony to fight in a neighboring country.

They threw me in there as cannon fodder.

Andrej Bykow

Bild: НЕ ЖДИ меня из Украины

What is exciting is that he complains about the conditions in the war and admits to having thought about going into battle "against these Russians". "They threw me in as cannon fodder," Bykov accuses his home country. "What else can I say? Don't get involved in something like this." Bykov concluded that he would never do anything for Russia again.

Here is the original video:

At the end of January, Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners. The Telegram channel Storm Z then published a list of those who had returned from captivity. Bykov was also on it.

The 49-year-old returned to the Kemerovo region in February, reports the pro-Kremlin portal Ostoroshno, Novosti.

Offenders are celebrated as "heroes"
"It is terrible that a prisoner has been released. A few years ago, he literally killed a local woman for no reason. Actually, he should have served another ten years in the penal colony. But suddenly he was a free man! What is even more frightening, however, is that he will now be sent back to prison, then return to the war and finally live on as a hero - as many prisoners have already done," a local resident told the online portal Sibir Realii.